The New England Patriots’ divisional spherical win over the Houston Texans on Sunday was a slugfest in the truest of senses. Being performed at a snowy Gillette Stadium, it pitted two spectacular defensive items in opposition to each other in moist and chilly situations. As a consequence, as a rule, offense was missing: of the mixed 29 aggressive possessions, eight led to a turnover, with 13 others leading to punts.
Amidst all of it, the Patriots did get some standout contributions from a number of of their gamers. On the complete, nonetheless, our position-by-position breakdown exhibits that the 28-16 win was a wrestle for a lot of the afternoon.
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Patriots place grades from NFL divisional playoffs
Quarterback: During the common season, Drake Maye did an excellent job preserving the ball out of hurt’s manner. In his two playoff video games, nonetheless, he has now fumbled six instances with three of these ending up as turnovers. Four of his fumbles, together with two that have been misplaced, got here in opposition to the Texans (as did an interception on a Hail Mary play we’re not going in charge him for). Needless to say, ball safety must be a serious level of emphasis heading into the AFC Championship Game. Outside of the turnover points, he additionally missed some throws in opposition to a protection that got here after him relentlessly all day. When all was mentioned and carried out, nonetheless, Maye’s inconsistencies have been counterbalanced by some top-tier passes together with his touchdowns to Stefon Diggs and Kayshon Boutte. All in all, the good due to this fact nonetheless outweighed the unhealthy. | Grade: C
Running again: Besides lacking time in the first half resulting from a watch damage, Rhamondre Stevenson had one other strong outing. The Patriots’ lead again confirmed his trademark energy and mixed it with good imaginative and prescient and the endurance to let his blocks develop. As a consequence, he ended the day with 16 carries for 70 yards — not a foul outing in opposition to certainly one of the finest run defenses in the NFL. His ball safety was additionally top-notch regardless of going in opposition to a bodily protection in difficult situations. TreVeyon Henderson, in the meantime, was very a lot a non-factor on the day. Not solely did he acquire simply 25 yards on 12 carries and, very similar to Stevenson, had nowhere to go in the display sport, he additionally, seemingly purposefully, acquired solely restricted go safety reps. | Grade: B+
Wide receiver: The Patriots had 5 large receivers on their sport day roster, and employed all of them in the sport. Only three ended up making a distinction, nevertheless it was a giant one. DeMario Douglas scored the sport’s first landing when he shortly received open in opposition to a person protection name on 4th-and-1; Stefon Diggs was tied for the workforce lead with 4 catches and located the finish zone on a 7-yard reception in the second quarter; Kayshon Boutte once more proved his big-play prowess by ending with 75 yards (whereas additionally drawing a 17-yard go interference penalty) together with a spectacular 32-yard landing seize that proved to be the knockout punch for the Patriots. | Grade: A–
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Tight finish: Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper had quiet days as receivers, with each catching one go every and mixing to achieve simply 19 yards via the air. Where their impression was most felt was the blocking. As has been the case all yr, the two veterans delivered some good blocks in the working sport, together with Hooper sealing the edge on the sport’s longest carry, a 20-yarder by Rhamondre Stevenson in the first quarter. The lack of receiving manufacturing was disappointing, however total the place group was nonetheless ok. | Grade: C+
Offensive line: The Patriots knew that standout edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter may very well be issues, and that’s exactly what occurred. The two mixed to take Drake Maye down 5 instances and compelled three fumbles alongside the manner. Not all of these sacks will be pinned instantly on the offensive line, however one participant up entrance specifically had his points: rookie left sort out Will Campbell was overwhelmed by the All-Pro Anderson on a number of events, and ended up surrendering two sacks on the day. The remainder of the line accounted comparatively nicely for itself and the run blocking was fairly strong at instances, particularly on the proper facet, the place Morgan Moses was a standout performer. That mentioned, Drake Maye nonetheless needed to function from collapsing pockets all through the afternoon. | Grade: D+
Defensive line: By mixing five-man fronts and well timed blitzes, Patriots defensive play caller Zak Kuhr had Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud in hell all day lengthy. Of course, calling and executing a plan are two various things, and the gamers’ execution was on level. Christian Barmore and Milton Williams managed the center of the line, with Khyiris Tonga’s return including stability at the coronary heart of the run protection. On the edge, Okay’Lavon Chaisson continued his robust season by including a sack and 7 pressures, together with the one which served as the help on Marcus Jones’ pick-six. Even with Harold Landry not being a lot of an element whereas nonetheless nursing a knee damage, the different edges managed to step up. | Grade: A
Linebacker: Even although they weren’t concerned in any of the defensive splash performs, New England’s linebackers nonetheless performed one other superb sport. Led by Robert Spillane and Christian Elliss, they have been fast to course of and got here down violently to fill run gaps. In addition, the group additionally made an impression blitzing and was fixed in patrolling the second degree of the Patriots’ zone-heavy protection. Houston hardly ever discovered success over the center, with Elliss specifically having an energetic day versus the run and the go. | Grade: A
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Cornerback: On Sunday, the Texans grew to become the newest in a sequence of groups considering that concentrating on Christian Gonzalez is a sound offensive technique. Stroud threw 16 whole passes his manner in each man and zone protection and whereas he did full seven of them, Houston’s common acquire on these performs was simply 3.6 yards. Then once more, that’s nonetheless a preferable end result in comparison with a few of the different passing performs: Carlton Davis intercepted Stroud on two events, each instances displaying spectacular physique management to get down in bounds, whereas Marcus Jones turned an ill-fated go right into a punt return that he ran again 26 yards for a pick-six. Gonzalez himself, in the meantime, additionally pressured a fumble on a run play (and almost had one other that was dominated down by contact after overview). The Texans did win a few of the battles — all three of the workforce’s penalties got here in opposition to Davis — however the conflict as a complete decisively went to New England’s CBs. | Grade: A-
Safety: Craig Woodson continues to grow to be a high quality starter in the Patriots’ defensive backfield, and a participant able to making a huge impact. He did so twice on Sunday, first selecting off a Stroud go that went via large receiver Xavier Hutchinson’s palms for certainly one of 4 whole interceptions on the day, and later leaping onto the unfastened soccer following the fumble pressured by Christian Gonzalez. Besides the highlight-reel performs, Woodson and fellow beginning security Jaylinn Hawkins additionally helped eradicate the risk of the Texans’ deep passing sport. | Grade: A
Special groups: The Patriots kicked nicely and lined nicely, which is the basis for a profitable particular groups day. They additionally have been capable of get some massive returns out of Marcus Jones, who averaged 13.3 yards on his 4 runbacks — a testomony to his means to get upfield in a rush and the blocking round him. The solely negatives have been an lack of ability to noticeably threaten Houston on kickoff returns and a pair of missed tackles. | Grade: B+
The Patriots’ divisional spherical sport was extra about survival than anything, however they confirmed that they might do sufficient to achieve that activity. The protection was opportunistic all day, whereas the offense made sufficient performs to attain three touchdowns in opposition to an total spectacular unit.
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“It wasn’t pretty,” mentioned head coach Mike Vrabel after the sport. “Defense kept us in there. When we needed it, our offense was able to come through late in the game.”
How would you grade the Patriots’ efficiency in opposition to the Texans? Do you agree with our evaluation? Please head right down to the remark part to debate.